For the Gardner (ex Voto)

Artist Albert Bloch (American, 1882 - 1961)

Date1948

MediumInk on paper

DimensionsImage: 7 × 5 5/8 inches (17.78 × 14.29 cm)
Sheet: 11 1/2 × 7 7/8 inches (29.21 × 20 cm)

Credit LineGift of Scott Heffley

Object number2022.42.5

SignedBloch initialed and dated the drawing at lower right, “AB/48.”

InscribedBelow the image in black pen is “For “The Gardener”/(Ex Voto)”, and in the lower left corner a circled inscription in graphite pencil reads “Belongs to Anna F.”

Markings“Hand Made” watermark along the upper edge and the Grumbacher embossment at upper right.

On View

Not on view

Collections

American Art

Terms

DescriptionThis pen-and-ink drawing composed of dense linework is on a vertically oriented sheet with dabs and splashes of brown and black ink in its lower right quadrant. The image itself occupies the upper two two-thirds of the sheet and features a figure wearing a floppy hat and surrounded by flowers and other vegetation. The figure has a bird perched on his proper left shoulder and another bird in his proper left hand. A butterfly has landed on his proper right hand which is raised to his chin. A pair of butterflies flit in the upper right corner.Provenance

Provenance

Anna Francis (1913-2014), Lawrence, KS, probably by 1951 [1];

Possibly acquired from Anna Francis Bloch by Donald G. Humphrey (1920-1987), Tulsa, OK [2];

Mark Humphrey (1948-2020), Southampton, Long Island, New York, by 1993 [3];

Purchased from Humphrey by Scott Heffley, Kansas City, MO, 1993-2022 [4];

His gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2022.

NOTES:

[1] “Belongs to Anna F.” is written in pencil at the lower left of the paper’s recto. This is most likely Anna Francis, who married Albert Bloch in 1951.

[2] Donald G. Humphrey received a bachelor’s degree in drawing and painting in 1948 from the University of Kansas, where he would have studied under Albert Bloch, Head of the Department of Painting and Drawing until 1947. Humphrey later served as director of the Philbrook Art Center (today the Philbrook Museum of Art) in Tulsa, Oklahoma from 1959-1975. Humphrey organized a retrospective exhibition of Bloch’s work, on display at the Philbrook March 7-31, 1961, during which time the artist passed away on March 23, 1961.

[3] The circumstances of Mark Humphrey’s acquisition of this work are currently unknown, but considering his father’s association with the artist, it is possible Mark Humphrey acquired it by descent, and that his father acquired it either from the artist or the artist’s wife. Research is currently ongoing.

[4] This object was offered for sale by Mark Humphrey at Moderne Kunst I, Ketterer Kunst, Munich, June 7, 1993, lot 33, but failed to sell. Heffley purchased it through Ketterer Kunst following the sale.

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